fuck

For many people, the word fuck is extremely vulgar, considered improper and taboo in all of its senses. Even so, various forms of the word, primarily in its nonliteral, slang senses, have increasingly crept into casual use, not only as spontaneous expletives of shock, horror, or anger, but also as verbal tics and common intensifiers, mere indices of annoyance or impatience or even pleasant surprise: Where are my fucking keys? What the fuck is taking so long?This is fucking awesome! Nevertheless, the term is best avoided altogether in “polite company.” The mass broadcast media have actually been forced by the threat of punitive fines to block audiences from hearing it, either by banning its use entirely or by bleeping all or part of the sound—if only by blocking out nothing more than the vowel sound in the middle. Although its first known occurrence in writing dates from the late 1400s (disguised in a cipher at that), the word fuck was undoubtedly heard long before that, and it remains primarily a creature of the spoken language. Well into the 20th century, it was generally regarded as “unprintable,” and forms like f*** or f--k or some spelling distortion like frack or frig or fork or fug were typically substituted for it in writing. In speech, creative euphemisms abound, some born with each new generation. We now have eff and effing as well as f-word and f-bomb, all of which allow us to discuss the term without resorting to its actual use.

verb (used with object)

1.

to have sexual intercourse with.

2.

Slang. to treat unfairly or harshly.

verb (used without object)

3.

to have sexual intercourse.

4.

Slang. to meddle (usually followed by around or with).

interjection

5.

Slang. (used to express anger, disgust, peremptory rejection, etc., often followed by a pronoun, as you or it.)

noun

6.

an act of sexual intercourse.

7.

a partner in sexual intercourse.

8.

Slang. a person, especially one who is annoying or contemptible.

9.

the fuck, Slang. (used as an intensifier, especially with WH-questions, to express annoyance, impatience, etc.)

Verb phrases

10.

fuck around, Slang.

to behave in a frivolous or meddlesome way.

to engage in promiscuous sex.

11.

fuck off, Slang.

to shirk one's duty; malinger.

go away: used as an exclamation of impatience.

to waste time.

12.

fuck up, Slang.

to bungle or botch; ruin.

to act stupidly or carelessly; cause trouble; mess up.

Idioms

13.

give a fuck, Slang. to care; be concerned (usually used in the negative):

fuck

a partner in sexual intercourse, esp one of specified competence or experience

4.

not care a fuck, not give a fuck, not to care at all

interjection

5.

(offensive) an expression of strong disgust or anger (often in exclamatory phrases such as fuck you! fuck it! etc)

Usage note

The use and overuse of fuck in the everyday speech of many people has led, to some extent, to a lessening of its impact as an expletive. However, the word still retains its shock value, although it is less now than it was when the critic Kenneth Tynan caused controversy by saying it on British television in 1965

until recently a difficult word to trace, in part because it was taboo to the editors of the original OED when the "F" volume was compiled, 1893-97. Written form only attested from early 16c. OED 2nd edition cites 1503, in the form fukkit; earliest appearance of current spelling is 1535 -- "Bischops ... may fuck thair fill and be vnmaryit" [Sir David Lyndesay, "Ane Satyre of the Thrie Estaits"], but presumably it is a much more ancient word than that, simply one that wasn't written in the kind of texts that have survived from Old English and Middle English. Buck cites proper name John le Fucker from 1278, but the surname could have other explanations. The word apparently is hinted at in a scurrilous 15c. poem, titled "Flen flyys," written in bastard Latin and Middle English. The relevant line reads:

Non sunt in celi quia fuccant uuiuys of heli

"They [the monks] are not in heaven because they fuck the wives of [the town of] Ely." Fuccant is pseudo-Latin, and in the original it is written in cipher. The earliest examples of the word otherwise are from Scottish, which suggests a Scandinavian origin, perhaps from a word akin to Norwegian dialectal fukka "copulate," or Swedish dialectal focka "copulate, strike, push," and fock "penis." Another theory traces it to Middle English fyke, fike "move restlessly, fidget," which also meant "dally, flirt," and probably is from a general North Sea Germanic word; cf. Middle Dutch fokken, German ficken "fuck," earlier "make quick movements to and fro, flick," still earlier "itch, scratch;" the vulgar sense attested from 16c. This would parallel in sense the usual Middle English slang term for "have sexual intercourse," swive, from Old English swifan "to move lightly over, sweep" (see swivel). But OED remarks these "cannot be shown to be related" to the English word. Chronology and phonology rule out Shipley's attempt to derive it from Middle English firk "to press hard, beat."

Germanic words of similar form (f + vowel + consonant) and meaning 'copulate' are numerous. One of them is G. ficken. They often have additional senses, especially 'cheat,' but their basic meaning is 'move back and forth.' ... Most probably, fuck is a borrowing from Low German and has no cognates outside Germanic. [Liberman]

French foutre and Italian fottere look like the English word but are unrelated, derived rather from Latin futuere, which is perhaps from PIE root *bhau(t)- "knock, strike off," extended via a figurative use "from the sexual application of violent action" [Shipley; cf. the sexual slang use of bang, etc.]. Popular and Internet derivations from acronyms (and the "pluck yew" fable) are merely ingenious trifling. The Old English word was hæman, from ham "dwelling, home," with a sense of "take home, co-habit." Fuck was outlawed in print in England (by the Obscene Publications Act, 1857) and the U.S. (by the Comstock Act, 1873). As a noun, it dates from 1670s. The word may have been shunned in print, but it continued in conversation, especially among soldiers during World War I.

It became so common that an effective way for the soldier to express this emotion was to omit this word. Thus if a sergeant said, 'Get your ----ing rifles!' it was understood as a matter of routine. But if he said 'Get your rifles!' there was an immediate implication of urgency and danger. [John Brophy, "Songs and Slang of the British Soldier: 1914-1918," pub. 1930]

The legal barriers broke down in the 20th century, with the "Ulysses" decision (U.S., 1933) and "Lady Chatterley's Lover" (U.S., 1959; U.K., 1960). Johnson excluded the word, and fuck wasn't in a single English language dictionary from 1795 to 1965. "The Penguin Dictionary" broke the taboo in the latter year. Houghton Mifflin followed, in 1969, with "The American Heritage Dictionary," but it also published a "Clean Green" edition without the word, to assure itself access to the lucrative public high school market.

The abbreviation F (or eff) probably began as euphemistic, but by 1943 it was being used as a cuss word, too. In 1948, the publishers of "The Naked and the Dead" persuaded Norman Mailer to use the euphemism fug instead. When Mailer later was introduced to Dorothy Parker, she greeted him with, "So you're the man who can't spell 'fuck' " [The quip sometimes is attributed to Tallulah Bankhead]. Hemingway used muck in "For whom the Bell Tolls" (1940). The major breakthrough in publication was James Jones' "From Here to Eternity" (1950), with 50 fucks (down from 258 in the original manuscript). Egyptian legal agreements from the 23rd Dynasty (749-21 B.C.E.) frequently include the phrase, "If you do not obey this decree, may a donkey copulate with you!" [Reinhold Aman, "Maledicta," Summer 1977]. Fuck-all "nothing" first recorded 1960.

Verbal phrase fuck up "to ruin, spoil, destroy" first attested c.1916. A widespread group of Slavic words (cf. Polish pierdolić) can mean both "fornicate" and "make a mistake." Fuck off attested from 1929; as a command to depart, by 1944. Flying fuck originally meant "have sex on horseback" and is first attested c.1800 in broadside ballad "New Feats of Horsemanship." For the unkillable urban legend that this word is an acronym of some sort (a fiction traceable on the Internet to 1995 but probably predating that) see here, and also here. Related: Fucked; fucking. Agent noun fucker attested from 1590s in literal sense; by 1893 as a term of abuse (or admiration).

DUCK F-CK-R. The man who has the care of the poultry on board a ſhip of war. ["Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue," 1796]

fuck

An exclamation of disgust, disappointment, dismay, etc: and yelled against the moan of the wind as loud as he could, ''Fuck!''(1940s+)

noun

An instance of the sex act: a quick fuck(1680+)

A sex partner: She said he's not a bad fuck(1874+)

A despicable person; bastard, prick: Why don't you fucks find a cure for that already?/ ''Oh yes, of course,'' said the fuck(1920s+)

verb

To do the sex act with or to someone (1200s+)

To cheat; swindle; maltreat; take advantage of; fuck over, screw: I was with them twenty years, but they fucked me anyhow(1860s+)

To curse and vilify; revile extremely; damn •Strongest of the cursing terms that include wishing the person or thing to eternal damnation: ''damn,'' ''to hell with,'' and mentally subjecting the person or thing to an act of sodomy: ''fuck, screw,'' and British ''bugger'' and ''sod''; has the elaborate variant fuck them all but six and save them for pallbearers: Fuck the money, I'm gone go on this ride/ Ah, fuck that noise(1920s+)

To botch and confuse; ruin; fuck up: My God, if the doctor sent out a bill, it might fuck the whole thing(1920s+)